The Opelousas courier., 1887-10-08
THE kvOYELLES CASE.
Attempted Theft Of a Parish by the Re-
formers,

New Orleans s-Democrat.
A cooler, more deliberate purpose to nullify
the will of the people, andasA steal their
franchises, WAS never ANY dea than the
effort in this direction neaeriPy the re
formers of Avoyelles. THEectlopDENocRAF
has heretofore commentaries action on
that occasion of MIR. Barton LA ch3irman
of the Democratic E1ecuttopUrs, alittee, aud
a pronounced Nichols Hsja, who tarbitrafy
ruling was promptly mtg by the G~ltermlned
action of the large majority of thG conven-
primaries held in1J various wardal of the
parish on the praeE, b Saturdayss Imported
Col. J.H. ThoTSprs. Congress. ysey or
ganized q CONF atS;;s with 55 delegates, a
clear majority @SYs of the Do delegates
| chosen to the parish convention by the peo-
pie, and elected 6 delegates to the Congress
sional convention.
After these delegates refused to submit to
the dictation of the minority. aided and
abetted by Judge Barbin, that minority, con-
sisting of thlrty-seVen regularly elected dele
gates, organized q rump, set up contestlng
delegations from the Borodlno and Eyer
lowed one of the regularly elected delegates
from Choupique, who betrayed his fellow
delegates, to cast the ten votes OF the ward,
and thus secured q fictitious quorum, and
went through the farce Of electing delegates
to the Congressional convention
That the whole matter may befullv under
stood, THE TIMEs-DEMocaAr furnishes mere
with a5brief review of the primaries IN the
wards of Avoyelles parfsh, IN which Thorpe
delegates were elected.
In Moreauville. clecting. seven delegates,
there was no opposition ticket, the thofpe
In Bayou Rouge Prairie, tone delegatel. Ine
Thorpe ticket was the only one III the field,
receiving the unanimous vote;
In Island -four delegates), the Ihofpe
4iclat WAS alactn6 without 0DpOSlt1On.
In Borodino three delegates). two tickets
were in the field. The Thorpe ticket carried
the ward, and it vas SO retrirnea by the com
miss1oners. a contest was raised ON thS
ground that nine voters had been reInsed tne
right to vote. The contest was baseiess. from
the fact that the proposed voters did not i've
in the precinct, and were refused on ina
In Simsport seven delegates), the Thorpe
ticket was elected without opposition.
In Choupique 90 ~delegates), the Thorpe
ceived a unanimous vote, There vas no con
test set up until the delegates appeared IL
the parish convention, The ten votes Q
| Choupique were absolutely necessary to. tn
'treformers," and they set up a flct11ou
contest, without giving any reasons thereto
"a contest made by a mali who was not eyei
a resident of the ward, and which had n
contestiag delegates to back It; Iney sne
delegates-Tancred Mayeux--to deserS HI
co-delegates and join their rump. Their Wl
committee on credentials decided that 1do+ IN
| Thorpe deiegation was Are regqhia lar L e ea st -
entire ten votes of the ward ! Ihus WAS q sc
. called quorum selected, and thus was re
: form, indicated. -
ticket was the only one in the field, and II
ceived the entire vote cast. m.
IN Black Box IA delegates), the Thorp
ticket received the unanimous vote: no OF
In Hamburg e delegates). the Thorn
ticket also received the unanimous vote; n
n Evergreen &, de!egatsa,, another '7 Of .f tn
contested boxes, the ''reformers" claim tina
they held q little election of their own-a SID
show as it were. No one but the select re
they let into their secret was aware OF
9 There are 149, Democratic votes altogethe
d these voters appeared and cast their votes Ie
!. the Thorpe delegates: nc, other votes wei
r put in tie box. The Thorpe delegates n
t ceivedi therefore, 2 el ear m in fha pre 9a ct :
o In Cottonport tive ,delegates), me Z +
n formn commissioners deliberately closed ~
polls in the faces Of o number 81 voters W. p
a fused to give them All opportunity to yot'
The polls were closed long before the accni
toned hour, and the Thorpe delegates COZ
tested the box On thls ground. o,t ~ II
, calculation, the Thorpe delegates had 80 {
the 92 entitled to sit in the parish conYel
n ton, or q clear. majority. OF 8. lnciudln
C~ottonport, their majority was 1s. Whe
d they refused to submit to the unjust. unpa
liamentary and tyrannical rulings OF Judf
y Barbin, and Withdrew TO organize elseWher'
they left behind Including Mayeux, Of Ono,
piaae, and the Cottonport deiegationl on
IS delegates who had any sort of eredentia
): worth a moments consideration. 1t requirt
AZ votes 10 constitute q quorum; put %
Z fact did not stand in the way OF the !
5lan N;chaHs had been in the parish